I want a sucker!

The past month or so Elliott has been showing major interest in the toilet.  She wants to sit on it, she needs to go potty (but never does), or she wants to use the bathroom so she can wash her hands.  So I knew potty training was coming up and I was dreading it.  Adding even more to my dread was reading this eBook that my sister used and swore by.  It sounded exhausting and way too intense for me.  You literally have to be by your toddler's side ALL THE TIME for three days.  Now I love my daughter, but that's a little extreme.  Mommy needs a minute every once in a while and the idea that I was going to be following her around like a lost puppy was something I was not looking forward to.

Nonetheless, on Monday we started the process.  You have to throw away all the diapers (which I didn't do because diapers are expensive so I just hid them all in the basement for baby #2 to use later) and then put big girl underwear on your kid and just wait for them to pee.  Every time they start to pee you have to run them into the bathroom and try to let them finish in the toilet.  If she gets any in the toilet at all, it's a super big deal and you praise them and give them a reward.  I used M & M's or Dum Dum suckers (which actually backfired, more on that later). 

Monday was spent cleaning up one pee mess after another.  I was keeping track and Ellie peed ELEVEN times around the house.  She did manage to take a nap and not wet the bed, but that night around 2:30 she did wet the bed.  I was not looking forward to day two.  It started out the same, but I could tell that she was beginning to understand the feeling of needing to pee and then what would happen because of that sensation (which she had never known before since diapers are made to whisk all that pee away so they can't feel it).  I could see her little mind processing the whole using-the-potty business.  She was becoming more likely to say she had to pee and by nap time at 11:30 she was starting to rack up the suckers (she was on number five by this point--bad call with the suckers, Mommy.  Next time I'll stick to a few M & M's.).  She made it through her nap dry and had one accident at 2:30 but since then, it's been AMAZING.

We started Monday morning and by Tuesday afternoon you could tell she was potty trained.  I know that sounds insane, but I promise it's true. She was acting like it was no big deal and that she had been using the big girl potty forever.  And now, at 9:15 on Thursday night, she is still accident-free.  She's made it the past two nights without wetting the bed or even getting up to use the potty.  It's been amazing.

I was completely stressed and anxious about potty training.  I liked the laziness (for me) and the convenience that came with her wearing diapers.  I didn't like the price and, ultimately, that was what made me potty train her.  Baby Harper is due in March and it pains me to imagine paying for that many diapers.  And in the eBook the author said the perfect age was 22 months and Ellie will be 23 months in about a week.  I can't believe how well it worked and I will definitely use this technique (no matter how exhausting it was) with the next kid.  Potty trained in two days? Yes, yes indeed.

(the treat bowl we used: "potty juice", suckers, and M & M's.  Ellie only drinks milk and water so it was a major deal for her to have juice while we potty trained.  She was supposed to drink lots to encourage lots of learning experiences so we introduced "potty juice" so she'd drink more.  They're now put up and will only be brought out on "special" occasions.)

Drinking the delicious "potty juice"...I know, I know, it sounds disgusting, but it's the best name I could come up with.

Workin' it in some leg warmers.  I thought this idea was brilliant since she wasn't allowed to wear pants while we were potty training and it was freezing in the house...but all the leg warmers did was trap the pee and it was pretty nasty getting those things off after an accident.  Less learned: fashion is not for potty training.



Ritter Christmas Bake

It's become a yearly tradition for my sister, Melissa, and brother, Ricky, to come over the week before Christmas so we can bake and decorate cookies, make treats, and put together gift bags for our families.  This year things were a little less festive because of some really rough stuff Melissa is going through, but we managed to create some beautiful confections anyway. 

These are not the beautiful creations I was talking about.  Round one of M &M pretzel kisses were a failure.  Mostly because I left them in waaayyy too long and they burnt.  It breaks my heart to see a whole bag of candy cane Kisses destroyed.  Take two...

with regular Kisses.  These turned out much better.

Reagan and Ellie got to decorate cookies as well.  Or pretend to decorate cookies while eating all the icing. 

We ended up with three different kinds of cookies (sugar, chocolate chip, and a oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookie) and the M & M pretzel kisses.  Melissa brought an assortment of pre-packaged Christmas candy and we put the bags together with all the goodies.  Normally we put them in festive tins, but we ran out of time and went with Christmas bags.  I put them together later in the evening when all the icing had set, but forgot to take pictures.  You'll have to take my word for it, they were amazing.



deal.deal.deal.

This is from before Christmas, but things got busy (shocking, right?) so I'm just now getting around to posting it.  I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I decided to start with something easy--saving money!

This first picture is all the stuff I bought using coupons, Register Rewards, and sales at Walgreens on December 20th.

Without using any coupons/deals, I would have spent $49.19 to get all of this stuff, but using the Walgreens ad, I got all of it for $21.96.  Normally, that's still more than I would spend, but Chris has recently started drinking coffee and he wanted to try the Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  They are normally over $8 a piece, but they were on sale, I used a coupon I had, and I got Register Rewards when I bought two.  Score. 

The only drawback was that to get all the savings, I had to go through the line four times and I think I was getting ready to give the old man who was checking me out a heart attack.  He didn't find my money-saving ways entertaining or worth it.  Oh well.

The next picture is from CVS also from December 20th.  Chris was home this day so I was able to run both places by myself (glorious!) and get everything done in one trip out. 

Retail price for the above items: $29.14.  I paid $15.15 total.  I needed the M & M's for Christmas treats I was making and for potty training rewards and I always need more closet air fresheners for Chris' stinky closet.  Again, I had to go through the line twice so I could use some ExtraCare Bucks I earned, but it was worth it.  After ringing up the M & M's and learning my total (and getting ExtraCare Bucks back), the cashier yelled, "how'd you do that??"  Coupons, people, coupons.

Betty Crocker I am not.

Tonight is our first family Christmas party of the season.  Yea!  I love a Christmas party and any reason to make food, especially sweets. 

I had big plans for my first creation.  I found the idea on this blog I love and figured it sounded pretty easy.  But don't worry, I managed to make it a lot more difficult than it should have been. 

Ellie helped me get the supplies ready and I imagined we'd decorate the cookies together and make sprinkle magic all morning.  Again, that did not happen.

First mistake: I bought Double Stuf Oreos because I thought that sounded better than the original and there'd be more room to hold the stick.  Apparently, they become too heavy with Double Stuf and the white chocolate so next time I'll be buying the original.  Also, if you look closely at the MaryJanes and Galoshes website, I'm pretty sure she used off-brand Oreos.  Which, if I was not my father's daughter, would be okay, but it's against the Ritter family's religion to eat off-brand Oreos.  But I will stick to original next time.

Round #1: They started falling apart the instant I put them in the melted white chocolate.  And there are multiple reasons this happened: 1. the package of cookies were pretty beat up when I opened them.  Half of them were already broken and I tried to smash them back together or I broke them while putting the sucker stick in.  Either way, I should not have tried to dip them once they were damaged.  2. I got the white chocolate waaaay too hot and it started melting the filling and making it hard for the stick to stay put.  Again, if you look at the directions on the MaryJanes and Galoshes website, it says don't let the water in your double broiler boil (I did) and don't let it get too hot (I did).  I should have studied the directions more carefully (or at all, really) before starting this endeavor.  I just saw the pretty pictures, got excited, and started making stuff.  Big mistake.

Round #2: They came out better than the first batch, but only because I was getting the hang of it, I'd turned down the heat to low, and I only covered the tops with white chocolate (bummer).

So they look nothing like my inspiration's pictures.  They probably won't taste that great since I scorched the white chocolate in the process.  Elliott didn't get to participate at all and got bored rather quickly (the only thing that made her last through the whole ordeal was I let her play with all the sprinkle jars and she started building towers).  And they're currently in the basement trying to harden.  I plan on trying this again with all my new found knowledge, but I'm sure I'll find another way to screw them up.

Creation #2 turned out better.  I made Christmas wreaths using corn flakes and marshmallows (just like Rice Crispie treats but with corn flakes).  I used green food coloring to make them green and put red hots on for the holly.  Chris says they look like snot, so maybe I should have put more food coloring in to make them more green.  And I didn't have enough red hots to put as many on each as I would have liked, but each wreath got at least one. 

I've tried one that was cooled and they are pretty good.  I have enough cereal left so I'll probably make another batch of these also and put more food coloring in next time.  I got the recipe here and if you make them I found the easiest way to form the wreaths was spraying my hands with non-stick cooking spray and then working with them.  You have to reapply the spray after four or so wreaths, but it keeps them from sticking to your hands for the most part.

Now to the Christmas party!



WoF: Day #4

Bad news about Thursday's outfit: I forgot to take a picture of it.  Oops.  I was in a rush to get out of the house on time (shocking, really...) and then I didn't get home until late.  My sister and niece were coming over for dinner so I changed clothes as soon as I got home without thinking about it.  So you'll just have to take my word for it, but it was probably the best outfit of the week.  I wore black maternity pants (okay, not that exciting), a teal/blue/navy silk shirt, and black blazer.  It doesn't sound that noteworthy, but it was the closest I've come to being professional all week.  I plan on wearing the outfit again so I'll take a picture of it and add it later, but I can't repeat it for a while, so don't hold your breath for the pic.

Comments:
"I like your shirt." four different students said this at different times Thursday
"Ooh, fancy jacket!" teacher
"Graham, you've looked really good all week--what's up?" fellow teacher
"I really like your shoes." student (they were electric blue pointed toe flats)
"Your outfit is cute today." student
"Those colors look amazing!" fellow teacher

WoF: Day #3

Wednesday for my week of fancy.  I wore black leggings, a gray/pink/blue dress with a black bow belt, a purple sweater, and some jewelry.  While the comments have slowed down because I think my students might be getting used to me (after just two days??) dressing up, my co-workers have not.

(I had Chris take my picture today.  He didn't question why, at 6:45 AM, I would want my picture taken, he just did it.  But I wish I would have looked more carefully at it since it's really dark...oh well, better than spending 10 minutes trying unsuccessfully to take my own picture which is what happened the past two mornings.)

Comments:
"Mary, it's been just this week that I finally figured out you were a female." fellow teacher
"You look pretty." student
"You're going to freeze with no pants on!" student (I had pants on...)
"You're dressed up again today." student
"Look at you, all stylish!" fellow teacher
"You're not as dressed up today." student

WoF: Day #2

Tuesday there was no such luck for a two hour delay (boo).  Less comments today, but still some good ones.  My co-workers seem more confused about why I'm dressing up than my students.  Maybe because they've seen five years of me going downhill and didn't think there was any hope.  Today's picture is just a torso picture since I was in the kitchen and had no idea how to take a full length picture of myself in there.

Wearing: brown pants, gray, long, button down shirt, brown belt above my growing belly, animal print shoes, silver hoop earrings, and a brown and purple ring.

Comments:
-"Ooh, did you get a new shirt?" fellow teacher (answer: yes, I did, thanks for noticing.)
-"You look pretty today." student
-"Look at Ms. Graham trying to wear eyeliner." student (note: I was not wearing eyeliner, let's not get carried away people.)
-"Does that belt hurt your baby?" student
-"I thought you couldn't come to school lookin' professional two days in a row." student
-"You look hot today!" fellow teacher
-"I can tell you've done your hair two days in a row Graham." fellow teacher
-"You look like a hip mama!" fellow teacher

WoF: Day #1

Monday we had a two hour delay because of weather (yesss).  This was a perfect start to my week of fancy since I had plenty of time to lay in bed, take a long shower, and still look put together.  The picture below is HORRIBLE, but since Chris doesn't know about my experiment, asking him to take random pictures of me was out of the question.  Also, out of the question: editing the picture since I have no editing skills (or software). 

Wearing: Black and cream striped shirt, cream velvet blazer, black maternity pants (hott), gold chained owl necklace, and black wedges. 

Comments at school:
-"Holy shit!  Are you wearing eye shadow?" fellow teacher
-"You look nice." student
-"Ms. Graham, you look pretty today." student
-"Why do you look so nice today?" student
-"Do you have a parent conference this afternoon?" fellow teacher
-"So if you had two extra hours (referring to the weather delay today) you could look like this everyday?" student
-"You look tired." student (???)
-"You look really tall today." student
-"Why are you so dressed up?" student
-"Why do you look so professional today?" fellow teacher
-"You should not be wearing heels while you're pregnant!" student
-(stopping dead in her tracks as she saw me) "Umm, you look really different." student

calling it in 2011

Random text from Chris today: "Calling it right now, Phillies the World Series Champs next year."  Of course, I added the correct punctuation and capitalization...

I told him I was writing this down so there it is.  Now to wait a year.

a week of fancy

Things that should be known:
1.  I teach middle school, specifically 7th grade.
2.  I am lazy (hence the two months since last posting).
3.  I have gotten progressively worse in my outfit choices since becoming a teacher five years ago.

I used to get up at 5:30 am to get ready, do my hair, pick out awesome clothes.  Then it was 5:50 and, as of September, I've been rolling out of bed at 6:10 to rush around and try to look presentable at my job.  Most mornings, I walk in at 7:20 (my contract day starts at 7:15) and turn on the lights just as kids are walking in.  This, honestly, doesn't bother me.  I have the majority of my stuff ready the day before and I have a first period prep to do any last minute things.  

Years ago, students adored my clothes.  Before my students had to wear uniforms, they would sometimes go out to Target or Old Navy and buy what I was wearing to be like me.  I had one student who would come to school every day with stars drawn on her left foot just like mine.  Fast forward a couple years and now my students are more likely to ask me what's wrong with my hair or if I know my sweater has a hole in it (YES, I know, I bought it that way without knowing it).  

I still dress professionally, sort of.  Most days I'm wearing some kind of knit shirt, a sweater, and black or brown pants.  And depending on the shirt, I'll either wear flats or my (trusty)Chucks.  And my hair is pulled back in a pony tail (after it has finished air drying which is around 9:00 am).  I have to admit, I've let my style go a little.  Or a lot, depending on how long you've known me.

So here's the plan: we have one week of school until Christmas break.  For the next five days, I'm dressing up.  Looking professional.  Using a blow dryer.  Maybe even a little eye shadow.  And I'm going to document it.  I'm going to take a picture of my look each day and record any and all comments from my students about said outfit.  Because if you know anything about 12 year olds, it's that they will say exactly what they think of you.  And they do, often. 

I'm not telling anyone of my "week of fancy" but I'm sure everyone will notice quickly.  And I'm sure I'll get the most comments from two specific male co-workers who tease me daily about my clothing choices.  I'll also document their comments because I'm sure they'll be especially kind.

So here goes, a week of dressing up and looking professional.  I'm already uncomfortable.  Ugg.